Op-ed views and opinions expressed are solely those of the author.

Democrats run on two speeds over Roe v Wade – hysteria and derangement. Pres. Biden calling the potential overruling of Roe “extreme” forgets how extreme Roe was when it was handed down in 1973 and that he himself had referred to it as going “too far”.

That returning abortion to the states is a danger to “women’s health” ignores the fact that any surgical procedure is inherently dangerous, as vigorously enunciated by my tort prof years ago. Abortion is certainly dangerous to the unborn baby, yes baby, a woman does not give birth to a codfish. Camile Paglia, an abortion supporter, even admits that abortion kills a baby. Callously ignored by the abortion lobby is the number of women who die or are rendered sterile by botched, but legal abortions. Conveniently forgotten is Philadelphia abortionist Dr. Kermit Gosnell, who was such a committed abortionist that he murdered three born-alive infants. His “clinic” was so filthy it was a bacterial breeding ground. Gosnell is presently serving three life sentences for murder.

The issue before the Court, however, is not the sanctity of life, nor the legality of abortion. It is instead, the constitutionality of Roe, as Brown v. Board of Education, was for the constitutionality of Plessy v. Ferguson.  Roe was one of a series of decisions, e.g., Reynolds v. Sims, Griswold v. Connecticut, etc., which sniffed constitutional “emanations” and various rights in the Fourteenth Amendment which were hitherto unknown or found anywhere in the plain language of the amendment. The fourteenth as conceived and ratified concerned only conferring the rights of citizenship on the recently freed slaves. It said nothing about abortion.

That it has been expanded to embrace the legal fantasies of liberal Supreme Court justices would stupefy its originators. The Ninth Amendment, “The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people” was also distorted to justify Roe. Roe, in Justice Byron White’s dissent, was “raw judicial power”; they did it because they could.

Those, like Pres. Biden and Sen. Schumer who argue that Roe is a threat to democracy advocate a position that is just the opposite, a position that denies citizens a voice and resorts to judicial autocracy for its defense, in other words, law by judges, not the people.  Justice Scalia argued that the Constitution neither prohibits, nor permits abortion, that it is a policy issue belonging to the people in their respective states as enunciated by the 10th Amendment: The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people. The Ninth Amendment also supports overturning Roe as Roe denied and disparaged the rights of the people to govern themselves.  It is the conflict between a kritarchy and the rights of self-government that Roe usurps, and which is the root of contention between advocates of the unitary state and proponents of the American Republic. 

Justice Alito’s draft, if it becomes the Court’s decision, is a return to legal honesty, a return to what the Constitution was intended to be, a contract between government and governed. It is a return to “We the people…”

• Author
• Recent Posts

William Layer

Lt. Colonel Civil Affairs, USAR (ret) served twenty-six years in the regular and reserve components of the US Army. He was civil military liaison for the 260th Military Police, DC National Guard, State Public Affairs Officer, Commander of the Public Affairs unit and a counter-drug intelligence analyst. Transferring to the 352 Civil Affairs Command as monuments and archives officer, he became the Command Public Affairs Officer in Iraq as well as liaison to local Iraqi leaders and acting Secretary to the General Staff. He was instrumental in recovering photographic artifacts of the Iraqi Royal family while in Baghdad. He was wounded in action in an ambush in Feb. 2004 for which he was awarded the Purple Heart.
In his civilian career he worked primarily in Army Public Affairs and for the Air Force as historian to the presidential wing in the early Reagan administration and later for Air Force Legislative Liaison covering congressional hearings and assisting in preparing testimony for senior leaders.
His essays and reviews have appeared in the scholarly and popular press including Asian Affairs and the Washington Times. He is co-author, with Ali Wahab, of The Iraqi Royal Family, a Collection of Photographs Recovered from The Ruins of the Zuhur Palace, 2004.
A native New Yorker, he holds a BA with honors in history from Findlay College (Ohio) and an MA in history from The Ohio State University. He is a graduate of the US Army Command & General Staff College and was graduated with distinction US Naval War College with a MA in National Security and Strategic Studies.

Latest posts by William Layer (see all)

• Letitia James and the destruction of the legal legacy of Louis Lefkowitz, Mr. Attorney General. - April 5, 2024
• Donald Trump vs. the Maniacs: Ballot box follies in the Pine Tree State - January 4, 2024
• Does opposing Democrats threaten democracy? They think so. - November 28, 2023

Comment

We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please click the ∨ icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.